Hargrave House is an original Listed building in three acres dating back to the late 1700s with a purpose built addition and was acquired by Scimitar in the Autumn of 2000. The Care Hotel has 58 ensuite bedrooms, situated 10 minutes from junction 8 off the M11, and was refurbished and opened by Scimitar in January 2001.

It is situated in the charming picturesque village of Stansted Mountfitchet which dates back to Saxon times. Although the building is large and imposing, it has been structured into two wings, The Hargrave Wing housed by the original building and the Alice Grace wing added later in the 1990’s yet still sympathetic and in keeping with the magnificent original.

It is not easy to describe the wealth of features contained in Hargrave House, so the only way to appreciate the building is by a visit. Suffice it to say that the high ceilings and wood paneling to the halls and stairs were attractive enough to be featured in the ‘Lovejoy’ antiques television series a few years ago.

Within the main building is the old hall lounge, with a licensed bar, leading to three separate lounges, the dining rooms and a splendid conservatory. There is ease of access throughout the building which is served by two modern passenger lifts and the Manager’s office is situated on the ground floor immediately by the entrance hall, centrally sited between the two wings.

OverallGood

Last updated 27 September 2016
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 18 and 19 August 2016 and was unannounced. It was carried out by one inspector and an expert by experience. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The expert had experience of caring for older people who use services such as this one.

Before the inspection, we reviewed the information available to us about the home, such as previous inspection reports and notifications that they had sent us. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We also reviewed the report issued following a local authority monitoring visit.

During the inspection, we spoke with nine people who used the service and eleven relatives of people who used the service to gain feedback. We also spoke with two care staff, one head care worker, an activities coordinator, the housekeeping and laundry supervisor, the staff trainer, two visiting professionals, the operations manager and the registered manager.

We observed staff interactions with people who used the service, visitors and with each other throughout our inspection and particularly, at meal times and during organised activities. We reviewed the care records, risk assessments, medicines and medicines administration records for five people who used the service. We also looked at six staff recruitment and training records, and reviewed information on how the quality of the service, including the handling of complaints, was monitored and managed.

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Inspection checks

These checks were carried out under the inspection model that CQC have used since 2009. These will gradually be replaced by the CQC's new ratings (see below).

All standards were being met when the CQC inspected the service. If this service has not had a CQC inspection since it registered with the CQC, judgement may be based on the CQC's assessment of declarations and evidence supplied by the service.

At least one standard in this area was not being met when the CQC inspected the service and the CQC required improvements.

At least one standard in this area was not being met when the CQC inspected the service and the CQC have taken enforcement action.

New inspection ratings

The CQC are moving to a new inspection model and rate services according to how safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led they are, using four levels:

Outstanding – the service is performing exceptionally well.

Good - the service is performing well and meeting the CQC's expectations.

Requires improvement – the service isn't performing as well as it should and the CQC have told the service how it must improve.

Inadequate – the service is performing badly and the CQC have taken enforcement action against the provider of the service.

No rating/under appeal/rating suspended – there are some services which the CQC can't rate, while some might be under appeal from the provider. Suspended ratings are being reviewed by the CQC and will be published soon.